This invention relates to a compactor and, more particularly, to a forage compactor which is hydraulically powered and operated and which compresses forage into optimal size bales for container transport.
The formation of hay bales is, of course, well known. Such balers are used in agricultural operations in the field to form harvested hay into bales having generally either rectangular or circular dimensions. The bales so formed allow improved handling and storage and have a weight which allows convenient manipulation following their formation. Such bales are typically stored and used in locations relatively close to the harvesting location.
Commercial markets have now been established for forage in locations far removed from where the forage crop is harvested and formed into bales. For example, markets in the Asian and Middle Eastern countries have opened for forage from material harvested in North America and Australia. Thus, the transportation of such forage at a reasonable cost and maintaining such forage in marketable condition during transportation has become an important focus in order to profitably sell such forage.
Forage compactors to recompact standard hay bales are known. Such compactors generally act to take standard hay bales, separate the material making up the bales and recompact such material at a density which is much greater than the density of the forage in a standard bale while retaining generally the same dimensions. Thus, the recompacted bale may be shipped utilizing a far more efficient volume of space with an increased quantity of forage making up the bale
A typical forage compactor is described in U.S. Pat. 5,001,974 (Gombos) entitled HAY BALE RECOMPACTING SYSTEM. Gombos teaches a compactor having an inlet allowing the crop to enter into a compression chamber where the crop is compressed. Following compression, the crop leaves the compression chamber from an outlet positioned on the opposite side of the compression chamber from the inlet. A strapping operation is disclosed in which straps encircle each bale. The strapping operation takes place following the removal of the forage from the compression chamber.
The Gombos apparatus, however, suffers disadvantages. First an operator must be located on the same side of the compactor as the strapping unit since strapping units are not reliable under the severe operating conditions of the compactor. In order to properly remove twines from the incoming bales, an operator should be located on the inlet side of the compression chamber; that is, near the end of the main compression cylinder where the operator is in proximity to the highly stressed tie rods of the compression cylinder and the hydraulic hoses providing the high pressure hydraulic oil feeding the cylinder. This position is not a preferred operator location because the chances for an accident are increased. Further, being located at this point does not allow the operator to ensure that the scaling of the product is consistent. To overcome the latter problem, yet another operator is needed. The former problem relating to safety considerations remains.
A further disadvantage with Gombos is that the inlet and outlet locations located on opposite sides of the compression chamber necessarily dictate that the plant layout is inefficient. The forage compactor must be centrally located on the plant floor as opposed to being located against a wall, for example, where better overall utilization of floor space area can occur.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a forage compactor to compress forage into bales comprising a crop inlet area, a scale, a conveyor to convey crop to said scale, an indexer to convey said crop from said scale to a compression chamber, a compress plunger to compress said crop in said compression chamber and an eject plunger to eject said compressed crop from said compression chamber, said compressed crop being ejected from a crop outlet area downstream of said compression chamber, said crop inlet area and said crop outlet area being located on the same side of said conveyor.
According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a forage compactor to compress crop within a compression chamber by a compress plunger operable within a compression cylinder, said compactor comprising a plurality of pumps to supply hydraulic fluid to said compression cylinder and being operable to move said compress plunger to a compression position, one of said pumps having a pressure compensator, said pressure compensator being operable to allow said compress plunger to exert a substantially constant pressure on said crop within said compression cylinder for a predetermined time period and a hydraulic fluid relief sensor to relieve said pressure on said crop following said predetermined time period.
According to yet a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a forage compactor for compressing crop into bales within a compression chamber, said compactor further comprising a strapping chamber downstream from said compression chamber, said strapping chamber having a moisture sensor to measure the moisture of said crop of said compressed bale within said strapping chamber.
According to yet a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a forage compactor for compacting crop into compressed bales, said compressed bales including bales exiting a crop outlet area at a first predetermined time and previous bales exiting said crop outlet area at a second predetermined time, said second predetermined time being subsequent to said first predetermined time, a container for holding a predetermined number of said compressed bales, said compactor including a scale for weighing crop, a compression chamber for compressing said weighed crop into said previous and subsequent bales, a crop outlet area downstream of said compression chamber for receiving said previous and subsequent bales and a controller for determining the individual weight of said bales comprising said total number of bales, said controller being operable to increase the weight of said subsequent bales if said previous bales are underweight.
According to still yet a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a forage compactor to compress crop into bales comprising a compression chamber defined by a compression cylinder and a compress plunger reciprocal within said compression cylinder, at least one keyway in said compress plunger, at least one keyway in said compression cylinder, and a key extending between said keyways.
According to still yet a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a forage compactor to compress crop comprising a compression chamber, a compress plunger to compress crop within said compression chamber, a strapping chamber downstream of said compression chamber to strap said compressed crop, said strapping chamber being defined by platens holding said compressed crop on opposite sides of said compressed crop, a strapping assembly mounted for reciprocal movement along said platens, said strapping assembly being operable to install at least one of a plurality of straps on said compressed crop within said platens.
According to yet a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a forage compactor for compressing crop into bales in a compression chamber, said compactor comprising a crop outlet area to receive crop ejected from said compression chamber in the form of a compressed bale, a crop holding station to hold said bale and a strapping chamber to strap said bale upon movement of said bale from said holding station to said strapping chamber, said bale ejected by said compression chamber being moved to said strapping chamber by a movement length defined by approximately two bales.
According to yet a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a forage compactor to compress crop comprising a compression chamber having a wall and an indexer to move said crop into said compression chamber through said wall, said wall and said indexer having complementary knives to sever said crop as said crop moves through said wall into said compression chamber.
According to yet a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a forage compactor to compress crop in a compression chamber comprising a compression chamber, a compression cylinder, a compress plunger movable in said compression cylinder, a plurality of hydraulic pumps to provide fluid pressure to said compression chamber and a controller to detect the power required by said pressure of said fluid within said compression chamber, said controller initiating operation of more of said plurality of hydraulic pumps during relatively low power required by said compression chamber and fewer of said plurality of hydraulic pumps during relatively high power required by said compression chamber.
According to yet a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a forage compactor to compress crop within a compression chamber comprising a compress plunger having a compress stroke and an eject stroke, sensors to determine the position of said compress plunger during said eject stroke, and controllers operable from said sensors to initiate deceleration of said compress plunger during said eject stroke when said plunger reaches a predetermined position.
According to still yet a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a forage compactor to compress crop within a compression chamber, said compactor comprising a plurality of movable components and a controller, said components being movable manually, said controller being operable to prevent interference between said components during said manual movement of said components.
According to still yet a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a forage compactor to compress crop within a compression chamber, said compression chamber having a compression cylinder and a compress plunger movable within said cylinder, said cylinder being supplied with hydraulic fluid under pressure from a manifold, said manifold having inlet and outlet ports, said manifold being connected directly to said compression cylinder, said hydraulic fluid passing directly from at least one of said inlet or outlet ports to said compression cylinder.
According to still yet a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a forage compactor bale configuration system comprising a first elevator to receive a compressed bale, a first rotator to rotate said compressed bale, a first slider to move said compressed bale in a non-rotated position from said first elevator, a rolldown plate to receive said compressed bale and being operable to rotate said compressed bale, a second slider to move said compressed bale in a non-rotated position from said rolldown plate and a second rotator to rotate said compressed bale from said rolldown plate.
According to still yet a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a forage compactor comprising a compression chamber defined by walls, a top and a bottom, said top and bottom being connected by removable bolted connections.